Installation for supplying information to customers

Abstract: Information-dispensing installation (1, 1') for supplying information to customers, at least provided with an information-dispensing unit (2) for issuing to the customers vouchers (59; 71, 72, 73) on which the said information is shown, which installation also comprises printer facilities (30, 31) for printing the information on the vouchers (59; 71, 72, 73), which printer facilities (30, 31) comprise at least a reprogrammable memory (34 or 35 or 36) for storing the information, and the installation (1, 1') being provided with input means (9, 12, 13, 14, 15), which can be coupled to the reprogrammable memory (34 or 35 or 36), for entering the information in the reprogrammable memory (34 or 35 or 36); in one embodiment the installation is suitable as a sequence number system.

Description: The invention relates to an information-dispensing installation for supplying information to customers, at least provided with an information-dispensing unit for issuing to the customers vouchers on which the said information is shown, printer facilities to print information on the vouchers, the printer facilities comprising at least reprogrammable memory means to store the information, input means connectable to the reprogrammable memory means and to input the information to the reprogrammable memory means. Such an installation is known from United States Patent 5,176,224. The voucher issued by the known system entitles the customer who receives the voucher to a discount on a predetermined product for sale in a supermarket or other retail establishment. The computer controllable printer facilities includes a panel having a set of electronic displays which are controlled by the manufacturer of the product. The electronic displays are able to indicate the products for which discount vouchers are available. Moreover, further displays are provided to show the actual discount per product. Besides, the panel includes several push-buttons to be operated by the customers. Operation of a push-button causes the printer facilities to print a discount voucher for the product related to that push-button and causes a dispenser to discharge the new printer voucher. Since the panel comprises several push-buttons and several displays to show different sets of information the known system may form a bar to be used by people, especially older people, who are not able to or not used to operate electronic systems. Moreover, no voucher is available for a customer passing by the system: each customer first has to push a button before he may receive a voucher. This time delay may form a bar to the use of the known system by people entering the supermarket in a hurry or may cause a waiting queue to occur. Another information-dispensing installation is known from European Patent Application 0,086,199. The purpose of the installation disclosed in this publication is to make it possible for, for example, the customers of a bank to select a specifically desired service window, for example dealing with mortgages only, with the aid of a sequence number system. To this end the known installation comprises at least one sequence number allocating unit, operator terminals for staff, a display unit for displaying the sequence number next in turn for service, a selection unit provided with a large number of buttons with which the customer can select a specific window, and a processor unit for calculating which customer's turn has come per window, taking account of the requests entered by customers for a specific window. For this purpose the processor unit receives signals from the selection unit and the terminals and transmits the result to the display unit, on which both the sequence number next in turn for service and the free window are shown. The installation disclosed in EP-A 0.086.199 is suitable only as a sequence number system. No measures are mentioned for providing the customer with anything other than a sequence number, which is issued to the customer by the installation on a pre-printed ticket, which the customer has to tear off a roll. Operation of the known installation is fairly complex, in as much as a customer has to be clearly aware of the service he/she requires and has to find the associated control button on the selection unit. It is necessary that the customer be given some explanation of what precisely is involved and each installation therefore has to be provided with user instructions. The installation can thus be inhibiting, for example for older people. The aim of the present invention is to provide an installation with which customers of shops and service establishments can be provided, by means of information vouchers, with arbitrary information, for example an advertising message, which can be changed at any time of the day, without the customers being inconvenienced when the change is made. A further object of the present invention is to provide an information-dispensing installation which is user-friendly and simply to operate. It is observed that everywhere the word "voucher" is used here it is to be understood as including all different kinds of vouchers, coupons, tickets, etc., either in separate form or in the form of a strip. The objects are obtained by an information-dispensing installation which further comprises detector means to detect the presence of a voucher in a predetermined location where it can be taken away by customers and to generate a detection signal for the printer facilities when the voucher is taken away, wherein the printer facilities are arranged to print a new voucher and to supply the new voucher to the predetermined location upon receipt of the detection signal. By applying these measures the installation according to the invention is very user-friendly: a customer does not need to select or push any button but simply takes away a voucher from the system which voucher is already available in a location accessible by the customer. The customers are not required to push a button before a voucher is generated. Therefore, no customer has to wait before a voucher is available and the time to become familiar with the system is very short. No queue of people waiting for a voucher is to be expected. After a customer has taken away a voucher the next voucher is generated by the printer facilities automatically. Besides the removal of the voucher by a customer the system is fully automatically. A blank paper roll can be fitted in the installation, which paper roll is preferably provided on the back with coding texts for use by the electronic installation. The information for the customers is printed on said paper roll by the printer facilities. When the information has to be changed, the operator enters the desired new information in the reprogrammable memory via the input means, which new information deletes or amends the previous information. The date and time when the information has to be changed can also be pre-programmed. The operators preferably do this remotely with the aid of computer facilities which are known per se, either centrally by a system manager via a modem or individually, and do not inconvenience the customers when carrying out this operation. Consequently, a change in the information does not also lead to stacks of superfluous paper having to be thrown away, with the result that the environment is saved. The input means preferably comprise an interface, which can be coupled to the printer facilities via connection means, and computer facilities, which can be connected to the interface via a cable, which interface comprises at least one reprogrammable memory for storing the information to be given on the vouchers and the time and dates when the information has to be shown, and which interface can be disconnected with the aid of connectors. An interface of this type which can be disconnected can, for example, be taken home by operators, so that the desired information can also be entered in the reprogrammable memory of the interface elsewhere, with the aid of, for example, a personal computer. This increases the flexibility of the system. The printer facilities can be set up to print a bar code on each voucher. In a further embodiment the information-dispensing installation according to the invention is characterised in that the installation is provided with one or more push buttons and a sequence number display unit and the printer facilities are set up to print sequence numbers on successive vouchers. As a result of the use of these measures, the system according to the invention can also be used as a sequence number system, it also being possible, for example, to print an advertising message on each voucher bearing a sequence number. The information-dispensing unit is preferably designed to accommodate at least a paper roll serving for the production of the vouchers, the detector and the printer facilities. The sequence number display unit is preferably composed of a large number of light emitting diodes (LED's) which are ordered in such a way that numerals can be shown in analogue form. The sequence number next in turn can thus be displayed to the customers in an attractive manner. The sequence number display unit is provided with a timer to turn off the light emitting diodes if the sequence number displayed has not changed after a pre-determined time. The life can thus be extended and energy can be saved. Finally, the sequence number display unit can be provided with an internal sound box and memory storage means connected thereto for storing a pre-selected audio signal. The invention will be explained in more detail below with the aid of a few drawings which are intended for illustration purposes and do not imply any limitation of the inventive concept. Figure 1 shows an installation for supplying information to customers of, for example, shops or service establishments; Figure 2 shows an installation which is similar to that in Figure 1, except that it has been made suitable for use as a sequence number system; Figure 3 shows a preferred embodiment of printer facilities employed; Figure 4 shows the sequence number system of Figure 2 in more detail; Figure 5a shows an information-dispensing unit in partial cross-section; Figure 5b shows a part of the information-dispensing unit according to figure 5a on an enlarged scale; Figures 6 and 7 show examples of vouchers and tickets to be dispensed to customers; Figure 8 shows an example of an information-dispensing installation used in a supermarket; and Figure 9 shows an example of an analogue display for displaying sequence numbers. Figure 1 shows an installation 1 for supplying information to customers of, for example, shops or service establishments, such as post offices and banks. The installation 1 comprises at least one information-dispensing unit 2, for supplying information vouchers to customers. The information-dispensing unit 2 comprises printer facilities (not shown) which will be discussed in more detail with reference to Figure 3. There is space in the information-dispensing unit 2 for accommodating a roll, for example a paper roll, which is also not shown, for supplying information vouchers to customers. The printer facilities comprises a printer 30 controlled by printer electronics 31 (Figure 3), which printer electronics 31 are also located in the information-dispensing unit 2. The printer electronics 31 are connected via a bus 7 for exchange of information using external control means. An interface 9 can be connected to the bus 7 via suitable connectors 8 and a cable 10. The interface 9 can also be connected via a cable 11 and connectors 8′ to computer facilities 12, which, for example, comprise a screen 13, a processor unit, with disk drive, 14 and a keyboard 15. If desired, the computer facilities 12 can be connected via a cable 16 to a modem 18 for communication with remote control means 19 via, for example, a telephone line 17. The information-dispensing unit 2 is powered by a power supply 3 via a power cable 4. The power supply is, for example, a transformer, which converts the mains voltage 6 to a voltage appropriate for the system. To this end the power supply 3 is connected to the mains voltage 6 by means of suitable plug units 5. Figure 2 shows an embodiment in which the installation according to Figure 1 has been expanded to a sequence number system 1′. Components in Figure 2 which are the same as those in Figure 1 are given the same reference numerals. In addition to the means used in Figure 1, the installation 1′ according to Figure 2 is also fitted with push buttons 20i (i = 1, 2, 3, ....) and a sequence number display unit 21, all of which are connected to the bus 7. The push buttons 20i are intended to be operated by the staff, as in a sequence number system known per se, the number displayed on the sequence number display unit 21 being raised by one by a push on a push button 20i. A button 20′ is also incorporated for resetting. By operating the reset button 20′ the new number to be printed on the next voucher and to be displayed on the serial number display unit 21 is reset to a predetermined value, e.g. 000 or 001. This may be a time saving operation, eg. in a situation where customers are entering a shop and take a serial number although the serial number system is not used by the assistant(s) since only few customers are within the shop, a situation which often occurs. In such a situation it may happen that the display not being operated by the assistant(s) displays a fixed number while the numbers printed on the vouchers are rising. When more customers are entering the shop and an assistant wishes to use the system again he normally pushes a push-button 20i as many times as is needed to cause the number shown on the display 21 to correspond with the serial number of the next customer to be served. This operation costs time. By the provision of the reset button 20′, however, it is possible to reset the entire system by just one push on one button, thereby saving time. Instead of the interface 9 data collecting means 91 may be connected to cables 10, 11. When the data collecting means 91 is connected it collects data from the system such as how many customers have used the system, how long was the mean waiting time for customers, at what time of the day most customers entered the shop, whether the reset button was ever used, etc. The management can easily take away the data collecting means after a predetermined period of time and connect it to a personal computer somewhere else to analyze the data collected. Of course, the data collecting means 91 may be intelligent itself, i.e. it may comprise a micro computer able to analyze and process the data collected. If required the data collecting means may have a fixed connection to the bus 7 and comprise display means (not shown) to display analyzed data. Optionally, a further display 92 may be connected to the bus 7. The further display means 92 is preferably located in a management room and is able to display the number of people waiting to be served. This number easily follows from the difference between the last number printed on a voucher and the number displayed on display 21 (assuming, of course, that no customers have left the shop without being served or have entered the shop without taking a serial number). When the number of people waiting exceeds a predetermined thresholds the management may decide to have an additional assistant serving the customers. Exceeding the threshold may, optionally, cause the generation of an acoustic signal by appropriate acoustic means (not shown) to warn the management. The printer facilities which are incorporated in the information-dispensing unit 2 are shown in more detail in Figure 3. The printer facilities comprise at least a printer 30 and printer electronics 31 for controlling the printer 30. The printer 30 receives control signals from a printer processor 33 via a printer interface 38. The printer processor 33 comprises a memory 44, e.g. an EPROM. Under the influence of the control signals the printer 30 prints a text on a strip of paper 43, from which strip a voucher, bearing the printed text, can be removed by a customer. The text which is printed on the voucher is located in a memory 34 or 35 or 36, which is connected to a server processor 32. The printer processor is connected to the server processor 32, which is able to transmit general control signals and data to the printer processor 33. The server processor 32 is also connected to the printer interface 38. A real time clock 37 is connected to the server processor 32 for the purposes of time and date information. The server processor 32 is connected to the memory facilities 34, 35, 36, mentioned above. Reference numeral 34 indicates a RAM, reference numeral 35 an EPROM and reference numeral 36 a FLASH EPROM. The server processor 32 is connected via a network interface 41 to the bus 7 for receiving or transmitting data, which are supplied via the bus 7. The printer electronics 31 also comprise general control logic 40. The printer electronics 31 are supplied with mains voltage via a power circuit 42, connected to the bus 7. For protection against logic errors, the installation is provided with protection logic 39, which is able to transmit protection signals to the power circuit 42, the control logic 40, the printer processor 33 and the printer interface 38. Figure 4 shows the sequence number installation of Figure 2 in more detail. Components which are the same in the two figures are also indicated by the same reference numerals. If desired, an internal sound box 90 can be added to the sequence number display unit 21, which sound box 90 can give an audio signal, previously saved in a memory (not shown) located in the sequence number display unit 21, as soon as it is the turn of a new sequence number. Power supplies 45, 46 are connected to part of the bus 7 to power the information-dispensing unit 2 and the sequence number display unit 21, respectively. A connector unit 47, suitable for connection of the interface 48, is connected to bus 7. Connector unit 47 receives a reset signal from a reset switch 49. The sequence number display unit 21 preferably comprises three numeral displays, each of which displays one numeral of the sequence number next in turn in analogue form. That is to say, each of the said three numeral displays is made up of a large number of - for example 100 - light emitting diodes (LED's) which are so arranged that they are able to display all numerals in analogue form. Customers prefer this to the rigid shape of the digital displays now usually used. Figure 9 shows a detailed overview of a sequence number display unit 21, provided with three numeral displays 80, 81, 82. Each numeral display comprises a very specific arrangement of light emitting diodes 83, which is such that all numerals from 0 to 9 can be displayed in analogue form. As can be seen, many of the light emitting diodes in the rows and columns of a standard matrix display can be omitted and, therefore, savings can be made in respect of the diodes which can be omitted and in respect of the control of the light emitting diodes. Preferably, a few light emitting diodes 84 are offset over a distance of less than the extent of one light emitting diode with respect to adjacent light emitting diodes. A more natural looking numeral display can be achieved by this means. Space has been left at the edges of the display 21 for necessary control logic 85. The sequence number display unit 21 can be provided with electronic means which ensure that the three numeral displays are turned off if a pre-determined time has elapsed and there has been no change within that time in the sequence number displayed. As a result, energy can be saved and the life prolonged. Figures 5a and 5b show constructional details of the information-dispensing unit 2 in partial cross-section. The embodiment shown in Figures 5a and 5b is merely an example and is intended for illustration purposes only. There is space in the information-dispensing unit 2 for a paper roll 50, which is slid over a roll holder 52. The paper roll 50 is covered by a cover 53. A roll holder arm 51 is also provided. There is a space 54, preferably in the vicinity of the paper roll 50, for accommodating the printer 30, which is supplied with paper from the paper roll 50 via suitable paper guide means known to those skilled in the art. The printer electronics 31 are preferably located on a printed circuit board (pcb) 55, which is connected to the printer 30 via one or more suitable cables. Paper which is fed from the paper roll 50 to the printer 30 can leave the information-dispensing unit 2 via a suitable opening 58. The paper roll 50 can be a continuous roll of paper, in which case the information-dispensing unit 2 must be provided with tear-off means 103, 104 for tearing off, in each case, one voucher from the paper protruding from the unit. The paper roll 50 may be pre-prepared so that it has perforations transverse to the unrolling direction of the paper at pre-determined intervals, along which perforations a voucher can be torn off without the use of additional tear-off means (Figures 6 and 7). A detector 57 connected to the printer electronics 31 is preferably incorporated in the opening 58, which detector detects that a voucher has been pulled or torn off from the paper roll 50 and generates a warning signal for the printer electronics 31. Said warning signal is fed to the printer electronics 31 via suitable connection means, after which the printer 30 is instructed to prepare a fresh voucher provided with the message stored in the memory 44, which voucher then appears through the opening 58 so that it is clearly visible to a customer. There are many ways of designing a detector of this type and detection can depend on the paper roll 50 used or on the printed message. Thus, it is possible to allow the printer to print a pre-determined symbol on each voucher, which symbol can be detected by the detector 57. When a voucher is torn off, the detector 57 detects the disappearance of said symbol and then generates the warning signal. It is also possible to provide the paper roll at pre-set spacings with an opening which can be recognised by the detector. Another possibility is that the detector 57 detects any absence of paper in the opening 58 and stops generating the warning signal only when the printer 30 causes a voucher to appear through the opening 58. The tear-off means preferably comprise a nose 103 and a knife 104, as shown in figure 5a and in figure 5b on an enlarged scale. The printer 30 comprises a printer block 100 for printing the specified sequence number or message on the next voucher, which is still part of the paper strip 43. The printer further comprises a printer roller 101 to guide and transport the strip 43, which printer roller 101 is driven by appropriate driving means (not shown). The end part 59 of the strip 43 extends from the opening 58 and is accessible by a customer. Preferably a perforated edge 60 of the strip 43, as shown in figure 6, is exactly located above the knife 104 whenever a customer has to take of the part 59 extending from the opening 58. On order to take or tear off said part 59 the customer only has to pull the part 59 substantially in its longitudinal direction. The knife 104 and the nose 103 are set up in such a way that when pulling the part 59 in its longitudinal direction the knife 104 exerts a force perpendicular to the strip 43 in order to cut the strip 43 exactly at the perforated edge 60 located above the knife 104. After being torn off the part 59 of the strip 43 becomes a separate voucher on which the sequence number or message is shown. At that moment the detector detects that no part 59 is present anymore and sends a detection signal to cause the printer 30 to print and issue the next voucher. The new end part of the strip is driven upward automatically under the influence of the stiffness of the paper strip 43 and, therefore, the knife 104 will not interfere the supply of the next voucher. When the printer roller 101 is driven to transport the paper strip 43 the new end part of the strip 43 is pushed against a concave part 102 of the nose 103, which concave part 102 is located above the knife 43 and is able to guide the end part of the strip 43 over the knife 104 outward into the opening 58. The printer roller 101 stops rotating when the next perforated edge 60 is exactly located above the knife 104. The mode of operation of the installations shown in the above figures will be explained below, in part with reference to Figures 6, 7 and 8. In its simplest form the invention relates to installation 1 in Figure 1. The information-dispensing unit 2 supplies a voucher which is intended for a client and an example 59 of which is shown in Figure 6. The perforated edges 60 have been made at pre-determined distances to simplify removal of a voucher from the paper roll 50. A message is printed on each voucher by the printer 30. In the example shown in Figure 6 the message consists of five sections 61, ..., 65. Reference numeral 61 indicates a bar code, 62 the type of message and 63, 64, 65 three different advertising messages valid at the time. The voucher itself has no sequence number. Messages 61, ..., 65 are in coded form in the memory 34 or 35 or 36 installed in the server processor 32. To this end, messages 62, ..., 65 have been entered beforehand via the keyboard 15 (Figure 1). For this purpose the format of the voucher is displayed in corresponding size on the screen 13 by the processor unit 14 before the user enters the messages. The user is thus able to see on screen how the message will appear on the voucher and consequently will never enter too much information and can choose the most attractive possible layout of the information over the available area. The user does not per se have to use the keyboard 15 to enter information. As a result of the use of an interface 9 which is provided with a memory and can be disconnected both from the bus 7 and from the computer facilities 12, the user is also able to enter the messages elsewhere. He/she can, for example, take the interface 9 home and there use a personal computer to store the desired message in the interface 9. The following day this message can then be downloaded to the memory facility 44 of the printer electronics 31 via the bus 7 after the interface 9 has been coupled to the bus 7 again. This gives the installation great flexibility. The messages can optionally also be sent to the computer facilities 12 via the public telephone network 17 via the modem 18. The messages can be changed at any time throughout the day. If, for example, the system is used in a baker's shop and the shop owner decides at 15.00 hours on Saturday afternoon to sell off all left over products at half price, this information can be entered immediately. Customers entering the shop do not have to be inconvenienced in order to do this, nor is there any need to throw away already pre-printed vouchers because the information-dispensing unit always prints only one voucher at a time. On entering, for example, a supermarket, a diagrammatic layout of which is shown in Figure 8, through the entrance/exit 68, a customer will take a trolley 69 in which to put his/her shopping. After going through the turnstile 70, the customer passes the information-dispensing unit 2, which has a voucher already protruding from the opening 58 ready to be taken. Every customer is free to choose whether or not to tear off such a voucher. With the voucher in his/her hand, the customer takes, for example, the route indicated by an arrow P along the shelves 66. The advertising messages on the voucher can, for example, be arranged in such a way that a customer wishing to take every article advertised will pass by as many different shelves as possible. This also increases the likelihood that the customer will also be tempted to buy articles not on special offer. After the customer has placed all the purchases he/she desires in the trolley 69, he/she leaves the supermarket via one of the checkouts 67. At the checkout the assistant adds up the bill for all the purchases made, preferably with the aid of a bar code reader. The customer hands over the voucher 59 to the checkout assistant, who uses the bar code reader to read the bar code on the voucher. If the customer had placed articles on special offer in his/her trolley, said bar code reader records both the presence of such articles and of the voucher 59 and ensures that a discount is given on the price. Thus, the taking of a voucher 59 by the customer gives that customer the right to a discount which those customers who do not take a voucher do not have. Of course, it is also possible to use the system in outlets which do not use bar code readers at the checkout. In this case, each voucher 59 then merely provides information on articles on special offer. The messages on the voucher 59 are not restricted to advertising messages. More general information can also be provided to customers in this way, for example information on the opening times of certain specialist windows in post offices or banks. Figure 7 shows a strip from a paper roll 50 which has perforated edges 60 and three vouchers 71, 72, 73 still joined to one another. In practice, however, this situation does not arise in the preferred embodiment because there is always only one voucher printed at a time and the next voucher is printed only after the voucher already printed has been torn off the paper strip, as explained above. For the purposes of illustration, however, Figure 7 shows a few vouchers 71, 72, 73 in a row because the consecutive vouchers 71, 72, 73 have sequence numbers 74, 75, 76, which each differ by one from the sequence number of the preceding voucher. Vouchers 71, 72, 73 of this type can therefore be used together in a conventional sequence number system, the functioning of which requires no further explanation within the framework of this invention, because this is known to those skilled in the art. The way in which such a sequence number system can be combined with an installation according to Figure 1 has been shown in Figure 2 and described above.

Claims: Information-dispensing installation for supplying information to customers, at least provided with an information-dispensing unit (2) for issuing to customers vouchers (59; 71, 72, 73) on which the said information is shown; printer facilities (30, 31) to print information on the vouchers, the printer facilities comprising at least reprogrammable memory means (34, 35, or 36) to store the information, input means (9, 12, 13, 14, 15) connectable to the reprogrammable memory means and to input the information to the reprogrammable memory means, characterized by detector means (57) to detect the presence of a voucher in a predetermined location where it can be taken away by customers and to generate a detection signal for the printer facilities (30, 31) when the voucher is taken away, wherein the printer facilities (30, 31) are arranged to print a new voucher and to supply the new voucher to the predetermined location upon receipt of the detection signal. Information-dispensing installation according to claim 1, characterized in that the input means (9, 12, 13, 14, 15) comprise an interface (9), which can be coupled to the printer facilities (30, 31) via connection means (7), and computer facilities (12), which can be connected to the interface (9) via a cable (11), which interface (9) comprises at least one reprogrammable memory for storing the information to be given on the vouchers and the time and dates when the information has to be shown, and which interface can be disconnected with the aid of connectors (8, 8′). Information-dispensing installation according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the printer facilities (30, 31) are set up to print a bar code on each voucher (59; 71, 72, 73). Information-dispensing installation according to claim 2, characterized in that the computer facilities (12) are provided with at least a screen (13), a processor unit (14) and a keyboard (15) and are so set up that an image having dimensions corresponding to a voucher can be displayed on the screen (13). Information-dispensing installation according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the installation (1′) is provided with one or more push buttons (20i) and a sequence number display unit (21) and the printer facilities (30, 31) are set up to print sequence numbers (74, 75, 76) on successive vouchers (71, 72, 73). Information-dispensing installation according to claim 5, characterized in that a reset device (20′) is provided to reset the printer facilities (30, 31) and the display unit (21) to a same predetermined value. Information-dispensing installation according to claim 5, characterized in that a further display unit (92) is provided to display the number of people waiting to be served. Information-dispensing installation according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the printer facilities (30, 31) further comprise a server processor (32), a printer processor (33) able to receive control signals and data from said server processor, a printer device (30) to print information on vouchers (59) and to receive control signals and data from said printer processor, and security logic (39) being at least connected to said printer processor (33) in order to transmit security signals. Information-dispensing installation according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the information-dispensing unit (2) is designed to accommodate at least a paper roll (50) serving for the production of the vouchers, the detector (57) and the printer facilities (30, 31). Information-dispensing installation according to claim 9, characterized in that prior to use the paper roll (50) is completely blank on the side to be printed. Information-dispensing installation according to any of the claims 5 to 10, characterized in that the sequence number display unit (21) is composed of a large number of light emitting diodes (LED's) which are ordered in such a way that numerals can be shown in analogue form. Information-dispensing installation according to any of the claims 5 to 11, characterized in that the sequence number display unit (21) is provided with a timer to turn off the LED's in the sequence number display unit (21) if the sequence number displayed has not changed after a pre-determined time. Information-dispensing installation according to any of the claims 5 to 12, characterized in that the sequence number display unit (21) is provided with an internal sound box (90) and memory storage means connected thereto for storing a pre-selected audio signal. Information-dispensing installation according to claim 9, characterized in that the information-dispensing unit (2) comprises a nose (103) and a knife (104), both downstream from the printer facilities (30, 31), between which vouchers from the paper roll (50) are guided in order to facilitate tearing off of a voucher (59).

Inventors: WEIJERS PETRUS MARINUS JOHANNE, WEIJERS, PETRUS MARINUS JOHANNES
Applicants: BAVAK EFFICIENCY BV, BAVAK EFFICIENCY B.V.
Application year: 1994
Main classification: G07B1
IPC codes: G07F17, G07C11, G07B1